Vague Terrain

[photo: bdu]

Okay, mayhem may be a bit melodramatic - especially at 63 BPM. Regardless, it is safe to say that the 2009 MUTEK festival is looking quite impressive. While the entire Vague Terrain camp won't be in Montreal next week, we will be represented by our frequent collaborator Corina MacDonald and myself. In addition to the many great events and panels associated with the festival we'd like to plug a party that our friends at the excellent Create Digital Music and Create Digital Motion are co-presenting along with the Warper crew - this team of promoters will be hosting a "special unofficial pre-MUTEK party" on Tuesday. The event will run from the mid-afternoon until the wee hours of the morning and feature a variety of workshops (think open music tools) and performances. If you are a Montreal resident, or will be in town a bit early, cruise on over to Create Digital Music for more info.

As for the festival-proper, twitter-enabled folks can tune into @vagueterrain for semi-regular updates on the proceedings. See you in Montreal!

Toronto electronic music enthusiasts take note! The Canadian Music Centre will be presenting a "night of remix" on Saturday June 6th. The event brings together several local musicians that include Solvent, minisystem and Bartek Kawula to remix music submitted by 16 countries from throughout the world. The concert will be taking place at the Rivoli in Toronto on Saturday June 6th.

eContact! wishes to extend an open call for contributions to an upcoming issue focussing on "Open Source for Audio Application."
Submission deadline: 22 July 2009 Publication: 31 July 2009
Submission Guidelines: http://cec.concordia.ca/econtact/submissionguidelines.html

Suggestions for contributions include, but are not limited to the following projects, ideas and issues surrounding open source and free (libre) software:

THE "TRAVEL GUIDE" TO OPEN SOURCE A number of wiki pages have been set up and are being developed in true open source character: written and maintained *by* the community *for* the community. http://cecpublic.pbworks.com/OpenSource 

SOCIAL / POLITICAL - politics of open source, freeware and shareware - gender and technology - community-building as a result/extension of open source activities - community exclusivity as a result/extension of open source activities - music sharing / liberal licensing

TECHNICAL - system and programme stability and reliability, resource efficiency - inclusivity / exclusivity (software, operating system, plugins etc.) - compatibility with hardware / other software - flexibility of customizable environments - problem-solving for technical issues

ARTISTIC - does the use of open source imply / support alternative aesthetic approaches to artistic creation? - article / review / gallery featuring the work of one or more artists who are working with open source - blurring of the boundary between programmer/developer and artist in a DIY environment

Contact Coordinating Editor Jef Chippewa to express interest in contributing.